After the all the harsh weather and flooding of recent months, this weekend the
reserve was awash with birdsong and it really lifted the spirits. Vociferous
Sedge Warblers and more rhythmic ReedWarblers called from the ditches and the
reedbeds. The hedgerows were full of song as the other warbler species sought to
make up for lost time taking up territory and pairing up. Over it all and almost
continuously one or another Skylark cascaded its notes over the fields. At least
three singing male Grasshopper Warblers reeled monotonously in the car park and
sometimes could be picked out from amidst the froth of blackthorn flowers. At
least two Cuckoos were calling on both days and could be seen flying fast
between their songposts with their deceptively raptor like flight.Lapwings
are now flying up to challenge Crows, Kites and a Raven that are invading their
airspace. A Black Tailed Godwit showed well in the second scrape on Greenaways
and the birds of the weekend for me, were a pair of Whimbrel stalking around the
sedges out on Ashgrave and easily viewable from the hide. Wheatears and
Whinchats are still passing through and could be seen up at Noke and along the
visitor trail to the first screen. On Sunday morning a drake Garganey was dozing
at the back of the southern lagoon and two Barnacle Geese were feeding out on
Ashgrave, the Whitefronted Geese have now finally departed. During the week
several Hobbies have been seen and we regularly get a real influx during the
first week of May with anything up to twenty birds perched on gates and fences
of Greenaways and flying up to feed on the slow moving dangly legged St Marks
flies.The only other summer visitors that have yet to arrive arrive are
Turtle Doves. They are our most threatened breeding bird and without their soft
purring call, summer on the moor would just not be the same. I hope that over
the next couple of weeks I will be able to report their safe arrival.

From a scattering of migrant arrivals last weekend this weekend there was a
flood. Unlike normal years when warblers and passage migrants arrive in a
regular, steady sequence, this year everything seems to arrived at once.All
of the regular warblers are now present with the exception of Garden Warbler.
Also notable by its absence is Cetti’s, just one singing bird present for about
a week last spring and this year no sound at all. Our Cetti’s have not yet
recovered from the freezing winter of 2011/12 and it would be wonderful to have
them back adding their strident calls to the chorus that is now pouring from the
hedges and reedbeds. Grasshopper Warblers were calling in the carpark field and
a couple were also seen very close and out in the open along the path to the
second screen. Sedge Warblers still outnumber Reed in the ditches but that will
change over the next couple of weeks.Whinchats were found in the carpark
field on Friday and along the visitor trail on Sunday. There were six Wheatears
at Noke on Saturday and Sunday with several others on Ashgrave and Big Otmoor.
Cuckoo was both heard and seen on both days and will be regular now until it
leaves at the end of July.Both Marsh Harrier and a Ring-tailed Hen Harrier
were seen over the weekend and Peregrine could be seen flying over and sitting
on the ground on Ashgrave. A Raven was also mobbed by the breeding Lapwings on
Big Otmoor.Two Little Stints were reported last week on the scrapes on
Greenaways and there were thirteen Black Tailed Godwits on Ashgrave on Sunday
morning.Brimstone, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshells were in evidence and
Toads are making merry in the ditches. Several Grass Snakes could be found
warming up in the sunshine and Brown Hares are performing their mad March
behaviours in April! There is now so much to see and hear on the moor that it is
difficult to know where to go but if time is limited the car park field and the
Roman Road are full of interest. Perhaps our first Hobby to look forward to next
week.

Update: A Hobby was seen over the reed bed and the carpark field on Sunday morning (per S.T.)

Despite the strong winds and occasional showers spring has finally arrived. Warm
weather and the wind from the south brought a fall of Willow Warblers and
Chiffchaffs to otmoor this weekend with even more of them on Sunday than
Saturday. Only some were singing, most were flycatching among the still bare
twigs and branches of the hedgerows, seldom staying still. After such a long and
difficult passage there must be a powerful urge to feed up and get into breeding
condition.
Duck numbers are falling off now with smaller and fewer parties of
Wigeon scattered over the fields. Teal are fewer and much dispersed. There are
still two pairs of Pintail out on Big Otmoor and good numbers of Shoveller and
Gadwall the latter often performing noisy courtship flights over the reedbeds.
Garganey were both seen from the first screen and heard from the second, their
call being very distinctive.
The Barn Owl in the carpark field put on a
superb display as it hunted for at least half and hour in the Car park field on
Saturday morning, sometimes coming very close. The other regular bird was again
seen hunting around the reedbed. Peregrines and Buzzards were seen over Ashgrave
and the Ring-tailed Hen Harrier is still being seen regularly. Kites and
Lapwings have have begun to contest the airspace again over Big Otmoor. Snipe
numbers are high and there were drumming birds seen and heard on both days.
There are still at least one hundred and fifty Golden Plover dividing their time
between Greenaways and Big Otmoor. They are now almost all moulted into full
summer plumage and in the sunshine look particularly stunning.
On Sunday
there were at least thirteen Little Egrets mostly concentrated on the Closes, it
must offer them excellent feeding opportunities to be supporting such good
numbers. Grey Herons were also present with at least eight on Ashgrave. Best of
all was the sight of a bird sitting on a nest in the oak trees that that stick
out into Ashgrave. Herons have not used this site for several years and were the
heronry to become properly established it might encourage the Little Egrets to
join them, as has happened at other sites.
All three common hirundine species have now
been seen and on Sunday Swallows were especially noticeable. Wheatears were out
on Ashgrave and big Otmoor and we were very pleased to find a female Ring
Ousel
on the edge of the road down to the rifle range. A flyover Yellow
Wagtail was the other new migrant for the year. Hares are behaving
characteristically, indulging in wild chases, boxing matches and mad scrums.
Over the next couple of weeks I expect the migrant warblers to flood in and
with them other waders and birds that will only visit on passage such as
Whinchat and Redstart. It is a really exciting time and feels even better after
such a miserable and prolonged wait.

PS Subsequent to writing this Sedge Warblers have been seen and heard this morning and a Bar tailed godwit seen on the Barn Field

This weekend we took a few more baby steps towards spring but still failed to
achieve anything like seasonal weather.On the reserve more migrants have
appeared with the first hirundines being seen on Sunday. A SandMartin was
reported in the afternoon and a lone Swallow was seen by the Robys over the
reedbed in the evening. On Saturday the first little ringed plovers were on the
Big Otmoor scrapes and two different drake Garganey were seen on both
days.Snipe were very much in evidence this weekend. The male Hen Harrier
flushed at least fifty from Big Otmoor on Saturday and the group of volunteers
who are training for survey work found more than twenty on the Closes. They also
found one Jack Snipe. On Sunday morning there were at least four drumming over
the path to the first screen and several “chipping” from the sedge. Lapwings
and Redshank were noisily evident everywhere and the first lapwing nests have
now been found by the RSPB staff. A Chiffchaff called in the carpark field on
Sunday morning. Peregrine ,Barn Owl, Marsh and Hen Harriers were all reported
over the weekend.There are still Redpolls around the feeders and the cattle
pens and some of our resident birds were singing steadily despite the chill.
Perhaps next weekend will bring in the first real wave of summer visitors.

Despite the occasional snow showers and the nagging easterly wind, this was a
much better weekend than the last one. I don’t know if it is possible to state
exactly how delayed the season is this year, but the summer migrants are not
arriving as we would have expected them to in a “normal” year. I suspect that
there will be no real influx until the winds abate and the weather starts to
come in from the south or west.There was at least a small group of four
Wheatears on the farm fences on the western edge of Ashgrave and along with them
were two male Stonechats. They looked very fresh, bright and colourful in the
wintery sun.The drake Ferruginous duck was present on both days and spent a
lot time with its head under its wing dozing in the lee of the bank on Saturday
and on Sunday swimming very close to the second screen with Tufties and Pochard
in the open water. At least three quarters of the lagoon was frozen and some of
the shyer ducks such as Shoveller and Pintail were standing on the ice on the
far side. It was entertaining to watch the party of Coots who maintained their
antagonistic attitudes to each other, even when walking or running on ice, this
led to many falls and, as the thin ice melted, sudden swims. A pair of Little
Grebes were out to the left of the second screen and a Great Crested Grebe was
also with the other wildfowl but sadly does not seem to have a
mate.Elsewhere there are large numbers of breeding Lapwings and Redshank
over Greenaways and Big Otmoor. There are also many wildfowl on the pools and
floods of Big Otmoor and a flock of at least thirty Dunlin have taken up
temporary residence. The regular seven White-fronted Geese are still
here.All three Hen Harriers were present over the weekend and the Barn Owls
were hunting in both the carpark field and over the reed bed. Peregrine and
Raven were seen frequently but the Marsh Harrier present earlier in the week did
not seem to still be here. A Tawny Owl was calling in the Roman Road area and
this was the only addition to the Otmoor yearlist this week.In spite of the
cold Dunnocks, Reed Buntings and Skylarks were all singing and hopefully by next
weekend they might be joined by Chiffchaffs or Willow Warblers or perhaps I am
just being mindlessly optimistic.

stop press Garganey is regularly being seen from the hide on Ashgrave.